NoMoreABD

paper boy

How did you manage that?! Any tips? I'm having a REALLY hard time deciding, and some extra money from this particular school I'm leaning towards would really help my decision...

In case someone reads this post in the future - the story has evolved like this: I did get accepted to York (yay!) and in the informal email they even said that I probably expected that since I was nominated to for GFAD. Now I'm waiting to hear details on funding, GFAD or not, so I can decide if I can afford to go. Good luck everyone

Today: One rejection (Columbia) and one acceptance (York). So this morning my inbox was very productive...

Thanks zoegrrl. I emailed them right back and asked for guidelines. And they said there aren't any... So I just answered the questions the best I could, and on Monday I will contact them and ask if there is any news regarding admission.

financial resources

Hello. Well, I just received a call from York U, saying that the PhD admission committee has nominated me for "the prestigious Graduate Fellowship for Academic Distinction". It turns out they misspelled my email address and I never knew about it. So now they called and they need me to send them a couple of thing by tomorrow ! Anyway, does anyone here have any experience with GFAD application? Some guidelines for the following items? 1) Statement of strengths and weaknesses vis-a-vis leadership potential; 2) List of experience (s) indicating potential future leadership in international affairs They didn't even give me an approx. length for the statement. I emailed them back with questions... Thank god I'm 7 hours ahead of the school, so I'll have time to work on it tomorrow. Oh, btw, do you think this means I was accepted? Cause I didn't hear anything from them. Or do you think my acceptance depends on me receiving this scholarship? Or maybe the two things are unrelated? Who knows... Thanks guys!

But what if the school is approx. on the other side of the world, and what they offer to reimburse you for the visit will only pay for about 1/3 of what it's going to cost you? I really want to visit, but there's no way I can afford it nor take this time off work.

last chance

long haul

I also got accepted there (different program than OP) and got funding info with the unofficial admission email. They're offering me Graduate Assistantship, with pretty low funding that I don't think we'll be able to live on. Also, they want a very fast reply (before even sending me the official admission notification)...

Got into UBC, SCARP PhD program - in case anyone else is waiting on that. They're offering an "entrance fellowship" which I read as a one-time payment that happens to cover exactly tuition and fees for 1st year. It's one of my top choices, but how on earth could I afford to go with no stipend? Got any encouraging words for me? Still waiting on York U, which has guaranteed funding... Did anyone else here apply to York's FES? Did you hear anything yet?

Got an admission letter (yes!) from UBC - one of my top choices. It states an "entrance fellowship". The amount covers exactly tuition and fees for 1st year. So... basically, I got no funding, right? It doesn't say anything about covering tuition and fees nor about a stipend, so I guess it's a one-time payment. Which means I can't afford to go... maybe...

Ahhh! I thought that waiting without knowing anything was horrible. Now that I have a deadline on an acceptance - I experience true agony! Instead of being happy just for being accepted (which of course I am), I refresh all the online apps even more frantically then before, waiting for an alternative offer with more funding. The one I got might not be good enough to allow me to move to the other side of the world, and I might have to decline I can't believe it. I've been waiting for this for so long and working so hard Waiting before was nothing, compared to this. Hoping for yet another positive reply before I have to decide... And this is also in the name of those who heard nothing at all: Is it too early to contact programs and ask them WHAT IS GOING ON? edit: sorry. had a rough moment there. I'm actually much more positive and happy with what I did get so far

tea party

thank you all for your insights! I wrote back to the POI and got more info: You guys were right, it's not a tuition waiver. It's a substantive reduction that leaves me $1,000 to pay per semester and it's renewable for the following year. On top of that there are yearly fees of about $2500. It's not a lot to pay for PhD, especially as an international student, but what they're offering is not enough to live on. I didn't get a clear answer about the meaning of signing the assistantship offer, though. It sounds accepting it is also accepting the admission offer - and I have a problem with that since they only gave me 14 days and I still haven't heard from anywhere else

I also posted this on the Bank forum, so sorry for double-posting, but I'm looking for all the advice I can get and it's kind of urgent. I got accepted to Clemson. Anyway, I got a letter from POI, not official yet. They're asking me to acknowledge acceptance of assistantship within 5 days, and sign it within 14 days. 1. Does assistantship that "includes tuition reduction" mean no tuition at all? Cause they're not offering much... 2. If I sign this, does it mean I accepted the offer? Or do I have to wait for the official letter from the Graduate School - and only then accept or decline? Is it possible they want me to sign this and only then they'll send me an official acceptance? I haven't heard from any of the other programs yet, and I obviously want to wait... Here's the quote: Because of your excellent qualifications and experience, the faculty has voted to award you an $xx,xxx assistantship for 2012 – 2013 school year. The assistantship will be allocated over a 12 month period and includes a tuition reduction. As a graduate assistant, your per semester tuition will be the amount equal to that contained on the University web site at the time of registering for classes. The assistantship will require you to work an average of 20 hours per week during the assistantship period. At this time your advisor will be Dr. Mickey Lauria but this could change. Because of the limited number of assistantships available and the large number of applicants accepted with pending assistantships, it is critical that you acknowledge the acceptance of the assistantship in an e-mail to me by February 20, 2012 and sign this Assistantship Offer and either mail it to me or fax it to me at 000-0000000. I must receive the signed offer by March 1, 2012. If I do not receive the signed offer by the designated date, it will be withdrawn without any opportunity for reconsideration for fall 2012 semester.

take off

Hi all. Well, I got my first response - and it's an acceptance! Well, it's not official yet. It's a letter from the POI, saying they're recommending admission, and offering Assistantship. BUT: I don't understand this letter, and I need to reply in 6 days. I got 2 questions: 1. Assistantship "includes tuition reduction": Would I pay less tuition than normal, and it would be payed out of my assistantship money, or does it mean I won't pay any tuition at all? 2. The Feb 20 deadline is only for accepting the assistantship, right? The letter says I'll be getting a formal offer of admission from the Graduate School. Only then I will have to decide if I'm accepting the offer, right? Here it is - and your help is much appreciated: Because of your excellent qualifications and experience, the faculty has voted to award you an $xx,xxx assistantship for 2012 – 2013 school year. The assistantship will be allocated over a 12 month period and includes a tuition reduction. As a graduate assistant, your per semester tuition will be the amount equal to that contained on the University web site at the time of registering for classes. The assistantship will require you to work an average of 20 hours per week during the assistantship period. Because of the limited number of assistantships available and the large number of applicants accepted with pending assistantships, it is critical that you acknowledge the acceptance of the assistantship in an e-mail to me by February 20, 2012 and sign this Assistantship Offer and either mail it to me or fax it to me at 000-0000000. I must receive the signed offer by March 1, 2012. If I do not receive the signed offer by the designated date, it will be withdrawn without any opportunity for reconsideration for fall 2012 semester.

coffee bean

guide lines

Me too :-( Heard absolutely NOTHING yet from any of the 10 programs I applied too One of them has a couple of acceptances on the results page. I really don't get it: If they already know who's accepted and who's not, why can't they just click a button to update the online apps, so I can KNOW I've been rejected and move on?... So frustrating...

no vacancy

media lab

Any fellow applicants out here? I saw 2 acceptances posted on the results page so far. Was wondering if you had an interview. I heard nothing - so assuming unofficial rejection...